YAY & TREY: Luke Hancock and Russ Smith hug after Louisville secured the NCAA title with an instant-classic, 82-76 victory over Michigan last night as Trey Burke’s game-high 24 points are lost amid the confetti. Photo: AP

YAY & TREY: Luke Hancock and Russ Smith hug after Louisville secured the NCAA title with an instant-classic, 82-76 victory over Michigan last night as Trey Burke’s game-high 24 points are lost amid the confetti (inset). (AP (2))

ATLANTA — Rick Pitino needed to give his players one last reminder, one emotional jolt to get them to the promised land.

On Sunday, he showed them a documentary on the late, great Jimmy Valvano, the native New Yorker who reminded us all to never give up. Never give up.

The Cardinals would not give up last night, not when they fell behind by 12 to Michigan in the NCAA Championship Game.

They would not give up when Michigan came out hotter than a summer Georgia night.

They would not give up when foul trouble mounted and Michigan refused to fold.

Led by senior Peyton Siva and transfer Luke Hancock, the Cardinals held off the relentless Wolverines to claim their first national title since 1986, beating Michigan 82-76 in a breathtaking championship game.

Pitino became the first coach to win NCAA crowns at two schools — after triumphing at Kentucky in 1996 — and capped the greatest week in his life. His horse, Goldencents, won the Santa Anita Derby, his son Richard got the head-coaching job at Minnesota and Pitino was elected to the Hall of Fame yesterday morning

“We weren’t Cinderellas like N.C. State, but I wanted them to understand that because they won a championship, for the rest of their lives they will sit around that table, and every year they will get together for the rest of their lives,” Pitino said.

When asked if his team lived up to Jimmy V’s lasting credo, Pitino said, “Yes, it was awesome!’’

Was it ever. When they get together, the Cardinals, the No. 1 overall seed, can talk about how they persevered in a championship game as exciting and unpredictable as we’ve seen in years.

They persevered after losing one of their key reserves, Kevin Ware of The Bronx, who had the basket lowered for him so he could cut down the nets despite his broken right leg.

Louisville (35-5) trailed 33-21 late in the first half before going on a 16-3 run to take a 37-36 lead.

Michigan (31-8), which got a game-high 24 points from player of the year Trey Burke (17 in the second half) took a 38-37 lead to the halftime locker room and went up 46-42 lead with 16:58 left, forcing Pitino to call his third timeout.

Siva, the senior who saved his father, Peyton, from a life of addiction, saved the Cardinals by scoring 14 of his 18 points in the second half. He also had six rebounds and five assists.

The 6-foot point guard capped a 25-16 surge when he took an alley-oop pass from Hancock and threw down a dunk that gave the Cards some breathing room at 67-62 with 6:26 left.

“To a lot of people, it might seem like eight years,’’ Siva said of his Louisville career. “To me, it seems like yesterday I was a freshman getting pressed the whole time in practice and turning it over every play.”

Louisville opened its biggest lead at 76-66 when Hancock, the star of the 72-68 semifinal win over Wichita State and the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four, knocked down his fifth 3-pointer of the game with 3:25 left. He had a team-high 22 points on 5-of-5 shooting on 3s.

Michigan, a No. 4 seed, was the youngest team in field of 68, but it didn’t play that way. Trailing by 10, the Wolverines closed to within 78-74 with 80 seconds to play.

After some confusion about the bonus situation, Michigan put Hancock on the line for a 1-and-1 with 29.8 seconds. He calmly hit both to ice the game. Pitino said in October that Hancock, the transfer from George Mason, was the missing piece for a team that lost in the national semifinals last season.

If savvy senior Siva owned the second half, an unheralded freshman, Michael ‘Spike’ Albrecht of Crown Point, Ind., owned the first half. He came in after Burke picked up two early fouls.

Michigan fans were groaning. Soon they would be standing and cheering, “Spike!”

After going scoreless in 19 games this season and scoring 19 points combined in Michigan’s first five tourney games, Spike became an instant classic. The freshman, whose only other scholarship offer was from Appalachian State, had a half for the ages.

He scored 17 points on 6-of-7 shooting, draining all four of his 3s as Michigan surged to a 33-21 lead with just under four minutes to play. Pitino called timeout and Spike pumped his fist at the Michigan fans.

“We’re so proud,’’ Michigan coach John Beilein said. “I am so proud. Given the great first half they played, then hanging on in the second half was an incredible show of character and unity and all the things that we preach all the time.”